1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the semi-synthesis of taxane intermediates useful in the preparation of paclitaxel and docetaxel, in particular, the semi-synthesis of protected taxane intermediates.
2. Description of the Related Art
The taxane family of terpenes has received much attention in the scientific and medical community because members of this family have demonstrated broad spectrum anti-leukemic and tumor-inhibitory activity. A well-known member of this family is paclitaxel (1, Taxol).

Paclitaxel was first isolated from the bark of the pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia) in 1971, and has proved to be a potent natural anticancer agent. For example, paclitaxel has been found to have activity against different forms of leukemia and against solid tumors in the breast, ovary, brain, and lung in humans.
This activity has stimulated an intense research effort over recent years, including the search for other taxanes having similar or improved properties, and the development of synthetic pathways for making taxanes such as paclitaxel. One result from this research effort was the discovery of a synthetic analog of paclitaxel, docetaxel (2, more commonly known as taxotere). As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,814,470, taxotere has been found to have very good anti-tumor activity and better bio-availability than paclitaxel. Taxotere is similar in structure to paclitaxel, having t-butoxycarbonyl instead of benzoyl on the amino group at the 3′ position, and a hydroxy group instead of the acetoxy group at the C-10 position.

Taxanes are structurally complicated molecules, and the development of commercially viable synthetic methods to make taxanes has been a challenge. A number of semi-synthetic pathways have been developed, which typically begin with the isolation and purification of a naturally occurring material and then its conversion to the taxane of interest. For example, paclitaxel and taxotere may be prepared semi-synthetically from 10-deacetylbaccatin III or baccatin III as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,011 to Denis et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,012 to Colin et al. or by the reaction of a beta-lactam and a suitably protected 10-deacetylbaccatin III or baccatin III derivative as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,315 to Holton et al. or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/683,865, which application is assigned to the assignee of the present invention. 10-deacetylbaccatin III (10-DAB, 3) and baccatin III (BACC III, 4) can be separated from mixtures extracted from natural sources such as the needles, stems, bark or heartwood of numerous Taxus species and have the following structures.

Although, much of the research towards the semi-synthesis of paclitaxel and taxotere has involved 10-deacetylbaccatin III as the starting material, other taxanes from the Taxus species, such as 9-dihydro-13-acetylbaccatin III (9-DHB, 5), present in the Canadian yew (Taxus Canadensis), cephalomannine (6), 10-deacetyl taxol (10-DAT, 7), 7-xylosyl taxol (8), 10-deacetyl-7-xylosyl taxol (9) and a number of 7-epi-taxanes have been collected and identified.

As disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/695,416, which application is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,576,777 and 6,222,053 to Zamir et al. and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,175,023 and 6,179,981 to Liu et al., docetaxel and paclitaxel (and suitable starting materials for the synthesis thereof) may also be prepared semi-synthetically from 9-dihydro-13-acetylbaccatin III.
In addition, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,202,448 and 5,256,801 to Carver et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,790 to Zheng et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,281,368 to McChesney et al. disclose processes for converting certain taxanes (namely, paclitaxel, cephalomannine, 10-deacetyl taxol and certain 10-deacetyl taxol derivatives) present in partially purified taxane mixtures into 10-deacetylbaccatin III and baccatin III, which may subsequently be utilized in the foregoing semi-synthetic pathways.
Although there have been many advances in the field, there remains a need for new and improved processes for the preparation of taxane intermediates and their conversion to paclitaxel and docetaxel, and also for the preparation of such taxane intermediates from crude and partially purified mixtures comprising a plurality of taxanes. The present invention addresses these needs and provides further related advantages.